Last Of The Summer Wine began as a one-off episode of the BBC's 'Comedy Playhouse' programme in January, 1973. Reaction from viewers was positive enough to warrant a six-part series later that same year.

The programme deals with the second childhood of a group of aging delinquents.

Compo Simmonite (Bill Owen) and Norman Clegg (Peter Sallis) were principal characters from the beginning until the death of Bill Owen.

The third member of the trio has been, at various times, Cyril Blamire (Michael Bates), Foggy Dewhirst (Brian Wilde), Seymour Utterthwaite (Michael Aldridge) and Truly Truelove (Frank Thornton).

Set in and around Holmfirth, Yorkshire, the programme boasts an unusually large number of regular supporting characters.

Series 9 was originally commissioned as two separate series but was shown in the UK as a single series. For international release (and on some UK DVD releases), it is split into two series/seasons (9 and 10), with subsequent series/seasons being renumbered accordingly.

The very last episode was transmitted in the UK on 29th August, 2010, bringing to an end the programme's thirty-seven year run.

Peter Sallis appeared in almost every episode, all 295 of which were written by Roy Clarke.